Thursday, March 27, 2014

Special, because DJ Anj is a Monty Python
fan and has a big collection of tunes and sketches and he knows a lot about
Monty Python. He will, for sure, let us listen to parts of sketches between his
set of songs.

Second special Saturday is that it is the
birthday of Eric Idle. English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, comedic
composer and a member of the English surreal comedy group Monty Python.

Last but not least, the party starts an
hour earlier CET, than normal. Sunday night, in Europe, the time will set to "summertime".
Saturday the party will start at 8 pm CET (noon
SLT).

Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer and comedic
composer. Idle was a member of the English surreal comedy group Monty Python, a
member of the Rutles on Saturday Night Live, and the author of the Broadway
musical Spamalot.

Monty Python
(1969–1983)

Idle wrote for
Python mostly by himself, at his own pace, although he sometimes found it
difficult in having to present material to the others and make it seem funny
without the back-up support of a partner. Cleese admitted that this was
slightly unfair – when the Pythons voted on which sketches should appear in a
show, "he only got one vote", but says that Idle was an independent
person and worked best on his own. Idle himself admitted this was sometimes
difficult: "You had to convince five others. And they were not the most
un-egotistical of writers, either."

Idle's work in
Python is often characterised by an obsession with language and communication:
many of his characters have verbal peculiarities, such as the man who speaks in
anagrams, the man who says words in the wrong order, and the butcher who
alternates between rudeness and politeness every time he speaks. A number of
his sketches involve extended monologues (for example the customer in the
"Travel Agency" sketch who won't stop talking about his unpleasant
experiences with holidays), and he would frequently spoof the unnatural
language and speech patterns of television presenters. Unlike Palin, Idle is
said to be the master of insincere characters, from the David Frost-esque Timmy
Williams, to small-time crook Stig O'Tracy, who tries to deny the fact that
organised crime master Dinsdale Piranha nailed his head to the floor.

As the
second-youngest member of the Pythons, Idle was closest in spirit to the
students and teenagers who made up much of Python's fanbase. Python sketches
dealing most with contemporary obsessions like pop music, sexual permissiveness
and recreational drugs are usually Idle's work, often characterised by double
entendre, sexual references, and other "naughty" subject matter –
most famously demonstrated in "Nudge Nudge." Idle originally wrote
"Nudge, Nudge" for Ronnie Barker, but it was rejected because there
was 'no joke in the words'.

A competent
guitarist, Idle composed many of the group's most famous musical numbers, most
notably "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", the closing number
of Life of Brian, which has grown to become a Python signature tune. He was
responsible for the "Galaxy Song" from The Meaning of Life and "Eric
the Half-a-Bee", a whimsical tune that first appeared on the Previous
Record album.

Monty Python (sometimes known as The
Pythons) are a British surreal comedy group that created Monty Python's Flying
Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on
5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python
phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope
and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books
and a stage musical as well as launching the members to individual stardom. The
group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on
music.

The television series, broadcast by the BBC
from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by members Graham
Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin.
Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative
stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the
boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy
team responsible for both writing and performing their work, the Pythons had
creative control which allowed them to experiment with form and content,
discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has
been apparent for years, while in North
America it has coloured the work of cult
performers from the early editions of Saturday Night Live through to more
recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has
entered the English lexicon as a result.

In a 2005 UK poll
to find The Comedian's Comedian, three of the six Pythons members were voted by
fellow comedians and comedy insiders to be among the top 50 greatest comedians
ever: John Cleese at #2, Eric Idle at #21, and Michael Palin at #30.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

"The Liberty Bell" (1893) is an
American military march composed by John Philip Sousa.

John Philip Sousa (November 6, 1854 – March
6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era, known
primarily for American military and patriotic marches. Because of his mastery
of march composition, he is known as "The March King" or the
"American March King" due to his British counterpart Kenneth J.
Alford also being known as "The March King". Among his best-known
marches are "The Liberty Bell", "The Thunderer", "The
Washington Post", "Semper Fidelis" (Official March of the United
States Marine Corps), and "The Stars and Stripes Forever" (National
March of the United States of America).

History

"The Liberty Bell" was written
for Sousa's unfinished operetta "The Devil's Deputy," but financing
for the show fell through. Shortly afterwards, Sousa and his band manager
George Hinton attended the Columbian Exposition in Chicago. As they
watched the spectacle "America",
in which a backdrop depicting the Liberty Bell was lowered, Hinton suggested
"The Liberty Bell" as the title of Sousa's recently completed march.
Coincidentally, Sousa received a letter from his wife, saying their son had
marched in a parade in honor of the Liberty Bell. Sousa agreed. He sold
"The Liberty Bell" to the John Church Company for publication, and it
was an immediate success. The march is played as part of an exhibit in the
Liberty Bell Center.

The United States Marine Corps Band has
played "The Liberty Bell" march at four of the last six presidential
inaugurations: the 1993 inauguration of President Bill Clinton, the 2005
inauguration of President George W. Bush, and the 2009 and 2013 inaugurations
of President Barack Obama.

"The Liberty Bell" is also the
official march past of the Canadian Forces Public Affairs Branch.

Monty Python

The march is
often associated with the British TV comedy program Monty Python's Flying
Circus (1969–74), which used the piece as a signature tune.The British comedy
troupe Monty Python's use of the melody is ironic; the bouncy melody of the
march may be what the troupe found appealing. Terry Gilliam, the only American
in the troupe, decided to use the theme. He has said the piece was chosen
because the troupe thought it could not be associated with the program's
content, and that the first bell strike and the subsequent melody gave the
impression of getting "straight down to business". It was also chosen
because it was in the public domain and free from royalties, as there was no
budget for theme music copyrights.

The Monty Python
mode of presenting the tune was with a single strike of the bell, lifted from
the third section and increased in volume, followed by a strain of each of the
first two sections, followed by the famous stomping foot and a noticeably
flatulent "splat" sound reminiscent of a whoopee cushion (though the
first episodes used a "hiss"). At the end of Monty Python Live at the
Hollywood Bowl, the entire march was played over the closing credits.

"The Liberty
Bell" was used by the Foot Guards before it became associated with the
television series, after which they chose another march. Nevertheless, the
march remains popular with British military bands.

Because he is a fan of Python, the radio
broadcaster Steve Oliver uses the music as his opening music on his Sherwood
Radio show.